To That Mother: Please Don't Cry Anymore

Ashley couldn't hide the delight on her face.

Waiting below the stage, she had started checking her tablet nonstop as soon as Ryan began to speak.

Vought International cared about its superheroes—especially The Seven—more than most people realized.

Since the start of the new century, it had even established the sprawling Public Opinion, Sentiment, and Public Image Monitoring Department, which tracked every superhero's data in real time.

With in-person polls, online monitoring, and popularity statistics as its three pillars, the department assessed public opinion and ultimately rolled the results into each hero's public approval rating.

Before this interview, Homelander's approval rating had plunged by ten points because civilians had been killed during one of his unauthorized actions.

But once Ryan began speaking, Homelander's real-time approval rating, topic views, and share of positive comments all shot up.

And that wasn't all. What delighted Ashley even more was that Ryan's appearance had set the whole internet ablaze, just as she'd predicted. A promotion and a raise—and an escape from the threat of death—were finally within reach.

"Now comes the most critical part. Please, no more disasters. Amen!"

Ashley prayed devoutly.

That little rascal Ryan had scared her half to death with that "I'm sorry" just now. Her heart was still pounding.

As she thought about it, Ashley checked the data analysis and recommendations about Ryan that the risk management team had sent over.

[Trending topic across the internet, #RyanMakesHisDebut: 12.4 million views, fastest-growing topic within 10 minutes]

[Public sentiment assessment: 97% positive, no risk keywords, no intervention needed]

"Phew. We're in the clear."

For once, Ashley's eyes left her tablet and settled on the stage.

Right as host Cameron moved on to the next segment, loyal Ashley began to get nervous again.

"Homelander, your son just bravely shared some of his wonderful thoughts with us. I have to say, it's admirable."

"He has the same blood as me. He was born to be different."

"Yes, he has a great father."

Cameron agreed, then shifted gears. "So, for our next conversation, I hope you'll share your honest thoughts with us, too."

"Of course. I never hide from you... my... thou...ghts."

As usual, Homelander only realized something was wrong halfway through his answer. His voice trailed off.

He'd said the wrong line.

At this point, he was supposed to say, "Of course. I'm happy to share my views."

Notice the word "views." It meant his attitude toward a particular matter, and the whole point was to let him deliberately avoid the heart of the question. He could leave out as much as he wanted.

Then, according to the script Ashley had prepared, Ryan would step in to apologize after Homelander fell silent, looking grief-stricken, prompted by the host, who'd been briefed in advance.

The muscles at the corner of Homelander's mouth twitched twice, beyond his control. He suddenly felt a little panicked.

Cameron was panicking, too.

Homelander had messed up his line. They were about to hit the explosive part of the interview. Had he... had he... come up with another way to handle it?

Doing her best to push through, Cameron continued hosting.

She took out the prepared question cards. After a few fairly conventional questions, her expression turned solemn.

"Homelander, there's another issue from the reports that surfaced online early this morning that we're all very concerned about."

"In the video, it looked as though you accidentally killed a civilian during an operation to take down a supervillain."

"Will you address this on the show...?"

At this point, the conversation was about to reach a dead end.

In the original script, Homelander would be overcome with grief, so remorseful that he could barely speak.

But now Homie was still panicking.

He was regretting the words that had just slipped out, and he hadn't gotten into character at all.

If you asked him to fake a smile, he wouldn't hesitate for a second. He'd give you a "Homelander smile" right away.

"I saw that video, too!"

"Uh, some of it..."

Just then, Ryan, who'd been quiet throughout this part of the interview, suddenly cut in and picked up the question Cameron had nearly choked on.

Homelander looked over in surprise.

Ryan's little face was scrunched up. "That wasn't a good thing."

He started by stating his conclusion.

Then he softened the blow in a way that suited a child his age. "Even though Dad was worried it might scare me, so he immediately destroyed all the screens..."

"But I still found out."

"Wait a second, Ryan."

That's more like it.

Cameron secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The rhythm was back.

Homelander hadn't managed to express his grief, but that was fine. Skipping over him might weaken the impact of the show a little, at most.

A minor issue.

The priority was getting the script back on track.

She asked, "Ryan, how did you find out about it? As far as I know, the video was deleted as soon as it appeared."

"I heard it, and I saw it."

Ryan's answer seemed a little inconsistent.

Hadn't his dad destroyed the screens? Why was he now saying he'd "heard and seen" it?

But some sharp-eyed viewers immediately realized: the boy had inherited Homelander's superpowers. He had Super Vision and Super Hearing!

"So, you have Super Vision and Super Hearing?"

"Yes."

Cameron exclaimed at the answer she'd been expecting.

That question wasn't in her planned rundown at all. She'd just been curious, and she was sure viewers on TV and online were, too.

And she was right. The live-stream comments were instantly flooded with two phrases after Ryan confirmed it.

[Live broadcast]

[Ultimate sight and hearing]

The internet's moral compass was usually pointed the right way, and people were pretty professional in how they approached the issue.

"Son, you've developed Super Vision and Super Hearing? When did that happen? I had no idea."

Ryan visibly began to panic, stammering and fumbling for an answer. "Well... um... Dad, I didn't mean to hide it from you."

The father-and-son exchange on the show, along with Ryan's flustered reaction, made the audience smile knowingly.

Who hadn't had a little secret they didn't want their parents to know when they were young?

Like secretly having a crush on the person who sat in front of you, quietly doodling little figures in the corners of your textbooks, or accidentally staying up all night reading novels...

Back then, you kept every little flutter of your heart and every clever trick under wraps, afraid your parents would see right through you.

But once you grew up and became a parent yourself, you thought, "Well, I'll just pretend I don't know."

Meanwhile, Ryan's performance onstage continued. Still flustered, he blurted out, "I just wanted to watch the whole video."

"I also heard them say that Homelander can't make mistakes, and that people trust you."

"They also said that killing someone is always wrong..."

Wait, wait, wait!

Stop!

Off camera, Cameron panicked again.

He'd said the wrong thing. He shouldn't have said that at this point.

She hadn't even started steering the conversation yet. Why did Ryan look like he was about to apologize on Homelander's behalf?

Ryan didn't wait for her, or give her a chance to interrupt again.

With every camera in the studio trained on him, he turned to Homelander with a serious expression. "Dad, I think I'm starting to understand what superheroes mean to everyone."

"What?"

Homelander was puzzled.

Then his son voiced his innocent understanding. "Hope, Dad."

"To everyone, Homelander is the hope in Darkest Hour!"

"That's why they say you can't make mistakes. And that's why I thought that if Homelander can't make mistakes, then it wouldn't matter if Homelander's son made one."

"Dad, can I apologize to the innocent person who was hurt?"

After asking again, Ryan didn't wait for Homelander's answer. He floated straight up, then descended to the middle of the stage.

He looked directly into the camera. "When I make a mistake, my mom scolds me really harshly. Then she gets mad at herself and cries, too."

"I saw that older brother's mother crying as well, but the sounds they made were different."

"Yes, they were different."

"When I saw what she looked like, I felt this..."

Ryan touched his chest, his eyes reddening. "It hurt so, so much. So I want to say to that older brother..."

"And his mother, I'm sorry. Please don't cry anymore!"

Ryan bent at the waist.

His tears splashed onto the floor as he lowered his head.

The studio fell utterly silent. At that moment, the eyes of the whole world were fixed on him, and every voice fell quiet in sorrow.